Hero
by FuckMePumps
Summary: Being a leader doesn't mean you can't fall sometimes... because bleeding is a sign, and a part of being human. Slight RobRae Oneshot


**Author's Note:** Okay, another one-shot song fic. But I felt like I just had to write it down. You see, I just saw Haunted (Cartoon Network in my place is seasons late) and this fic just rolled off my head. So there, enjoy.

I just wanna rant here... so here goes... just removed some of my stories, namely "The Star and The Firefly," "Fall To Pieces," "Oblivion," and "It's you" and i've been really down these days... so please r&r my other stories too!

Another thing... a certain person call **Mav Gauntlet** just totally pairing flamed my friend Thistlewitch! FYI you bozo freak, you stick to your BBRae stories and leave us RobRae fans alone! Just because Robin and Raven totally belong together you're sulking because she won't end up with BB! Has anyone else noticed this? RobRae fans are the most persecuted shippers! Damn you to hell with your BBRae stories Mav Gauntlet! When you mess with me, you mess with the devil's kin! Thistlewitch, don't listen to that moron. People like your stories! Don't be discouraged coz I'll hunt this guy to the ends of the earth! RobRae fans, watch out for this stupid freakazoid!

And now, that's done! Go read now!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Teen Titans... yet. I also do not own the song "Hero" by Nickelback.

_(right after Haunted)_

Raven left the med-lab, where Cyborg was still examining Beastboy. Starfire left minutes ago, no doubt for the same place she was going to.

She found Robin's door wide open. She tentatively stepped inside.

_**I'm so high, I can hear Heaven**_

"Starfire already came to check up on me. I'm fine. Why are you here?" Came the Boy Wonder's tired voice. Raven was amazed at how developed his senses were to even detect her presence in his room. Still, not amazed enough to let what happened tonight slip through so easily.

"I came because you're not fine." She said simply in her usual monotone.

_**I'm so high, I can hear Heaven  
**_

She could hear a sigh from across the room. "I owe all of you an apology, I know that. My pride was hurt and I'm sorry I threatened you. But let's talk about this maybe tomorrow, alright? I'm..."

"Exhausted." She finished. "All of us are."

She went closer to see him on the bed, unsuccessfully trying to bandage his wounds.

"Let me help you." She offered, laying a hand on his shoulder. He caught it in a none-too-soft grip, but eventually loosened it afterwards.

_**Oh but Heaven, no Heaven  
Don't hear me  
**_

"I already told you. I'm fine." He managed through gritted teeth.

She jerked her arm, taking it from his grasp. She rubbed the spot where he grabbed her. "You know, I was just trying to help. But I can see you have everything under control." She retorted sarcastically, pointing at the strips of gauze he wrapped around himself.

She turned around to leave, when Robin reached for her hand again, this time, handling it like one does to a fragile piece of porcelain. "You know what... you're right. I'm sorry, and I admit I need some help with this. I'm too drowsy to do anything." He let go, then fell back on his bed with a soft 'thump.'

_**And they say that a hero can save us**_

_**I'm not gonna stand here and wait**_

No one could have seen, but Raven had the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. She sat on the mattress next to him. "Sit up."

He did as he was told, as she began to take off all the bandages he already put on. Marked in the black-blue bruises and the tiny numerous cuts that criss-crossed on his body was the perfect example of how they spent the night. Robin, battered by an illusion, and with more horror in his voice than ever before, had screamed at all of them. He had seen their enemy, he had fought him, but once again, terror had vanished leaving only its mark of fear upon Robin. They had to pin him down, to even chain him to the bed to keep him from breaking out. And then, with a feverish rage, he had broken out in utter frenzy to track down Slade. Once again, Robin was trying to be the lone hero and bring down the enemy all by himself.

_**I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles  
Watch as they all fly away**_

After rebandaging and applying medicine on some of his bruises, she saw that it wasn't enough.

"Robin, take off your shirt." She said, urging him to straighten up. Robin's masked eyes widened in surprise, or maybe even panic.

"Uh-- why?" He stammered uselessly. "It's okay, I already took care of that."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'm your team mate. No use being shy or modest or whatever it is you're trying to do. Come on, I want to see."

Robin grunted in defeat, turning his back for a moment as he took off his torn shirt. Raven could see a bandage wrapped around an area just below his chest, with a tinge of what seemed to be red in color.

She whirled him around, coming face to face with a huge red mark on the bandages. There was no need to say that it was blood.

"Where have you been hiding that?" She asked in horror, face still blank with shock.

He smiled weakly, a lame excuse. "No need to get all worked up about it. It's taken care of."

"No, Robin. Look at those bandages. They're soaking wet. We have to change those. How come we didn't see it before?" She looked around wildly for his shirt, then noticed a darker shade of red, almost brown, stain on the crimson fabric. She stared at Robin for an explanation; he could only shrug in reply.

_**Someone told me love alone will save us**_

She didn't need to be told, as she took off the bandages. Underneath was a large gash, not that deep, but nearly stretching out across his stomach. She touched the wound, fingers coming up wet with fresh blood.

"It's still bleeding. Not much, anyway, but still bleeding." She said, not squeamishly, but with worry. "We have to get you to the med-lab. Now." She said, trying imitate the commanding tone he used with them.

"No. Please, they can't find out. No one else must find out. Please." Robin pleaded. "They can't see me bleed."

_**But how could that be, look what love gave us**_

**_  
_**It was a one-sided argument, but Raven let him win. "Fine. But we need to attend to that. I'll operate on it myself, but I'll go to the med-lab to get supplies. Okay?"

"Okay."

Raven came back in less than a minute, carrying a tray of anesthetics, cotton balls, etc.

"Do you want me to give you a sedative, or can you take the pain?" The question almost came like a big joke.

"I can take pain."

"Lie down." He did as he was told. Raven put on a pair of gloves and examined the large wound. She wet some cotton balls with medicine and gently patted it on the opened skin. He winced slightly.

"Say, um, Raven? Can you, I dunno, heal that with your powers or something?"

She shook her head. "No can do. These kinds of injuries are out of my league."

"Oh."

After she finished cleaning it up, she threaded a needle, much to Robin's dismay.

"You told me you can take pain."

_**A world full of killing and blood spilling**_

_**That won't ever cave**_

Robin could see the glint of the needle going up and down, but couldn't feel anything.

"There. Now this is where you're supposed to bandage it." She said, following the words with action.

"Wait. How come I didn't feel anything while you stitched it up?"

She treated him to a small smile, a rare event. "Magic tranquilizer."

He sat up carefully, grabbing his side as he did it. "Thanks."

"Where do you keep your shirts?"

"Left cabinet, on the hangers."

She went to his closet and found replicas of his costume hanging up there. "Not your costume. Your casuals."

He laughed, despite the pain it caused to his newly bandaged stomach. "Oh. Bottom cabinet, second drawer. Get a white one."

She found his stash of clothes and came back with a white shirt. "Thanks." He wore the shirt right away. "Uh, Raven? I'm okay now. Thanks. I guess you should be getting some sleep."

Raven stood up, but only to close the door. "I came to check up on you. I'm not yet done."

_**And they say that a hero can save us  
I'm not gonna stand here and wait  
**_

"What do you mean? I'm bandaged and all and..."

"Why didn't you want anyone to see your wound? You could have been seriously hurt."

He stopped, realizing what she meant.

"I'm the leader. I'm not supposed to show weakness. It..." He paused, realizing that he had been babbling. "It doesn't matter. You have to get some rest."

_**I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles  
Watch as they all fly away**_

"Robin..." She placed her hand on op of his, amethyst eyes nearly pleading for acceptance.

"I want to know."

He breathed deeply, rubbing his temples. "I'm the leader. I'm supposed to be the one everyone looked up to. The role model. I'm can't fail. Failure is... is like poison for me. When a team sees their leader fall short, what do they do? They lose hope."

He stopped to look at Raven, whose face betrayed nothing, yet urged him to go on.

_**Now that the world isn't ending  
It's love that I'm sending to you**_

**_  
_**"Slade... he expects something from me. I don't know what. But nothing stops him. It was good you didn't see it.

"He drove me to the edge. He beat me up so bad... funny, no one's ever done that before. He hurt me too much that I... What did I do? I begged. I begged for him to stop. Only he didn't. I knew I could have died. He did too. Anyway, he... this Slade was just dust. Dust, like those that gather in places. Like dust bunnies... wow."

He laughed bitterly. "I knew a lot of things while it was going on. You might have thought I'd gone crazy... but I wasn't. I knew what was going on. I knew what I was doing... what he was doing. He was mocking me... taunting me... saying I was too weak, and maybe I was... I got sloppy... and did I care? I wasn't supposed to, but I did. I wanted to be better. I wanted him to stop mocking me and just shut up and just think for an instant that I'm worthy to fight. Because I am... I know I am...

"I'm worthy... because I can stop him. I'm the only one who can. I know I'm not alone... but I'm the only one who could do it..."

_**It is in the love of a hero  
And that's why I fear it won't do**_

Before he can say anything else, Raven delivered a hard slap on his right cheek. "Bullshit!" She roared. "Utter bullshit!"

Robin was surprised, ignoring the sting of the blow. "What? I open up to you and this is what you say? That my thoughts are crap? What's wrong with you?"

Raven drew back from him, trying to collect herself. "You know, Robin, you should be asking yourself the same question. The only real crap in the world are lies. Lies, and that's what your thoughts are! You're lying, lying to us, lying to yourself... lying to the world."

_**And they say that a hero can save us  
I'm not gonna stand here and wait**_

She began to calm down. "You shouldn't try to bring down the enemy by yourself. You're not the only hero here. Sometimes... sometimes you can't make it on your own." Tears began to choke her words, leaving them in her throat.

Without a second thought, Robin rose and wrapped both arms around her small frame. The embrace was welcomed and returned, Raven's fingers clutching tightly on his sleeves.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered. "What you told me wasn't..."

"No." Robin answered firmly. "I am wrong. You're right, and I'm wrong. That's the end of it."

_**  
I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles  
Watch as they all fly away**_

Raven took her head from his chest and looked at him. She frowned, then placed her fingers on the edges of his mask, and stopped there. He nodded. She peeled off the edges to reveal two azure eyes, one nearly swollen shut by the beating it took on earlier, but beautiful nonetheless.

She grinned widely, wiping her own eyes. "That's better. Now I can see them. Can you see now, Robin?"

_**And they're watching us  
Watching us  
As they all fly away**_

His brows furrowed slightly. "See... what?"

"You told me that failure... bleeding... keeps you from being a leader. But it doesn't.

"Failure keeps you human, and you bleed to know you're alive.

"Because even heroes have the right to fall."

_**And they're watching us  
Watching us  
As they all fly away**_

It was his turn to smile. "Thank you. You don't have any idea how much I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome."

Because there was no more need to retain it, Raven broke the embrace, walking to the door.

"Uh-- Raven?"

Raven turned her head slightly. "Yes?"

"Good night."

She nearly laughed. "Good night, Robin. Sleep tight."

_**And they're watching us  
Watching us  
As they all fly away**_

**Author's Note:** So there. I'm not expecting any kind of reaction here, I just had to write this down. This isn't my best work, and I know it's not awesome or anything. I just had to get my friggin' thoughts out. They're driving me insane. If you notice, this fic inspired by the song itself. I was thinking about using the song "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls but I figured it won't be right. And yes, I have something for the world bleed. And I had absolutely no idea what I did with the wound thing, so don't bother to correct me coz there's no worse thing in the world than know-it-alls. And for those of you who were expecting romance, I only said slight RobRae. I wanted to make a fic without making people kiss or whatever. Anyway, go review and say anything you want. God, I'm boring myself. Flames welcomed.

REVIEW!


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